The Screaming Viking

There are more tags available via nd game and fish. They are free for all right now. Just order them off the site. The tags are available for resident and non-resident, you can use the extra license for any season bow, rifle or muzzy.

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The deadline for submitting an application for a spring turkey license in ND is Feb 10th.

For anyone that is interested in hunting and when the various application deadlines are, pick up one of those ND outdoors calendars.  They have some cool wildlife pix, and they have the various deadlines marked on the calendars.  They also have season opening dates as well as sunrise and set times for everyday.  You can grab them for 3 bucks from Scheels or they come as the December issue of ND outdoors, if you have a subscription to that magazine.

This is an example of the stupid shit the NRA spends their time on…why wouldn’t someone with a trophy worth bringing home take the time to pack it properly so it doesn’t get damaged, then ship it via some company that specializes in shipping shit?  Such a waste of fucking time…

Fairfax, Va. – After months of negotiations, the National Rifle Association and Safari Club International are proud to announce a positive change in the antler and animal horn policy for United Airlines.

“We’d like to thank United for their attention to this matter and the commitment they’ve shown to their customers who use the airline when traveling to hunting excursions,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director for NRA-ILA. “For more than a year, hunters were prohibited from transporting many types of trophies in checked baggage on United Airlines flights, but this move will remove that ban.”

United Airlines published new packaging and cleaning requirements for antlers and animal horns to ensure their safe, clean transport. Also, the new language provides information on the size of antlers and animal horns United can accept based on the type of aircraft being flown and the special handling fee.

“Transporting antlers and animal horns in a safe, efficient manner is the goal of NRA, SCI and United Airlines,” concluded Cox. “Resolving this issue and providing a benefit to traveling hunters is a great victory for all parties involved.”

There is a story in the Fargo Forum about a guy that was nailed for poaching a deer in MN.  It was apparently some sort of record, and as such it has received intense scrutiny.  I know what your thinking “don’t the authorities have better things to do…” actually, in cases like this…they really don’t.  The people investigating this are people that are either paid or volunteer for these purposes.  They keep the records, make sure they are legit and over see hunting/fishing regulations.  If they weren’t doing this, they would be playing Cabela’s “big game hunter” on wii…or something.

It is clear from this article that the guy who bagged this buck was a complete dipshit.  It takes a special kind of moron to get caught poaching like this.  I could see shooting after hours and a game warden driving up to where s/he heard the shot…not a whole lot you can do about that (other than not do it I suppose), but to knock down a big one and try to claim the record…after you cheated?  What the hell kind of person does that?  How can a record you had to cheat to win mean anything to you?  I can understand how a professional athlete cheats to hit certain marks, there is a huge financial reward…but a regular guy with a deer?  There is probably some money to be made on trade marks and replication mounts…but it can’t be that much

If you are going to take a couple extra during season and you are going to completely use all the meat from the animal, I see absolutely nothing wrong with that at all.  I don’t see why I need to be “taxed” to shoot an animal that is roaming free on private land.  The government is not providing a value added service with their attempts to manage the game, there is no reason they should profit off of something they really don’t do anything with.  For the entire season, I don’t believe there was a game warden around the area I hunt.  In the past 20 years, I’ve only seen a game warden in that area 1 time.

People need to use their head when they are poaching.  First and foremost, if you shoot it out side of the rules…you’ve cheated.  Don’t be submitting it to the record books, if you want to get it mounted for your own viewing…fine.  Don’t be dumb enough to think you can outsmart the scientists, you can’t.  From the trama inflicted to the hide these very smart people can figure out what type of weapon the animal was shot with.  They will be able to ballpark age the animal back to the point it died.  Just don’t try it.  Shooting for bragging rights makes you a piss poor fuckin hunter in the first place…but that’s a topic for another time.